A pack of ramen noodles is worth more than cash in US prisons

The government spends $80 billion a year locking people up but only $3 a day feeding them
Inmates were so hungry they turned a 59 cent pack of noodles into an entire currency
One pack buys you a haircut
Two packs buy you a clean shirt
Ten packs can get you a cell phone smuggled in
If you've got 20 packs in your locker, you're considered rich
Prisoners take out loans in ramen
They go into debt and even refinance soup debts with other ramen holders
People gamble with it
Some fight over it
The US prison system made 1.2 million people so hungry they built an entire economy around a pack of noodles that costs less than a dollar